Paradise Lost - Part 2

Broadcast:

Saturday 31 May 2003 3:00PM

Supporting Information

John Milton was born in London in 1608. He studied at Christ's College, Cambridge and was appointed Secretary for the Foreign Tongues under the Interregnum after the English Civil War. A Supporter of Cromwell, despite marriage to a Royalist, Milton published his "Defence of the English People" in 1651. The following year, Milton became totally blind. On the death of Cromwell in 1659, Milton was arrested and imprisoned by Parliament and his work burned by the hangman. Paradise Lost first appeared in 1667 and is held to be his greatest work and one of the finest works of English literature. Milton died in 1674.

Paradise Lost was Milton's attempt to write the first English Epic. He undertook his account of Man's fall from Paradise in heroic verse based on the styles of Homer and Virgil but in place of the classical muses of Mount Helicon, Milton appeals to the Holy Spirit to be his muse. Milton also introduced into English literature one of its earliest and most powerful anti-heroes: Satan.

This presentation of Paradise Lost focuses on the character of Satan and the creation of Hell. Selections are taken from the first two books, which treat Lucifer's fall into Chaos taking with him the lost legions; the creation of Hell; and the council of fallen angels in Pandemonium; and from Book IV, in which Satan overcomes his doubts and remorse to commit himself to the pursuit of evil.

Rory Walker is the voice of Satan; David Meloar is Beelzebub; with the voices of Ksenja Logos; Michael Hill as Belial, Andrew Martin as Moloch, and Paul Blackwell as Mammon. The narration is by Michaela Cantwell.